MistletoeCam
by Lamby
Summary: Bobby has some free time on his hands over Christmas and decides to try and set up his friends at the Xavier School. AU to X3.


Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men. Ilehana belongs to Corrinth. Blaze belongs to me.  
  
A/N: Just a brief blurb hopefully to make you smile and feel all Christmassy. It was either this or carol singing so count your festive blessings! As far as the cast-list goes, this fits in as the Christmas after L'Ange de Morte in Corrinth's and mine shared timeline, so no Jean or Rogue basically. Anyway enjoy the story, have great Christmases all and try not to be too disturbed by the idea of Wolverine with cheap plastic antlers on singing "Silent Night, Holy Night..." Thank you to my sister for all her help. God Bless, Lamby  
  
Mistletoe-Cam  
  
The mansion was brimming with excitement and festive decorations as December wore on, the nights closed in and Christmas was suddenly just around the corner. Those children that went home for the holidays departed, but it saddened Professor Xavier that so many were forced to remain. Still there was such a warm feeling of family around the school at this time of year that nobody seemed to miss homes they hadn't seen in a long time anyway. The university students Bobby, Kitty, Jubilee and Colossus, along with Scott's brother and Bobby's college roommate Havoc, came home at long last with bags of washing and half-starved expressions. The kitchen was a hive of activity with everyone chipping in the preparations for Christmas Dinner. Everyone except Iceman, who had a little project of his own to see to...  
  
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"Right, there... How's that..." It was pitch black in the corridor, Bobby's husky whisper as he spoke to himself the only sound. He was balanced on a chair, the small digital video camera trying to focus automatically as Bobby turned the viewing screen around to face himself and flicked on a tiny handheld torch. Iceman grinned as he looked back at himself in gross close-up. Camera was working then, now for the bait. Nothin' like a little wildlife filmmaking to make Christmas Day arrive a little quicker...  
  
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"Hey..." The speaker was Jubilee, hair askew, dressing gown bright purple and early morning bags under her eyes. "I decorated the whole of this corridor, where the heck did that mistletoe come from?"  
  
"Does it matter?" Kitty was equally yawning in a fluffy Barbie pink number. "Nobody'll bother about it around here anyhow, they're all unromantic stick in the muds."  
  
"Morning ladies." Havoc oozed kissing both girls on the cheek as he overtook them for breakfast already fully dressed.  
  
"Hey has this mistletoe got somethin' to do with you Alex?" Kitty wanted to know, standing with her hands on her hips.  
  
"What mistletoe?" Alex replied, genuinely confused, eyes searching the air above the girls. "Oh, that. Nope, nothin' to do with me."  
  
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"Storm, Vixen, Blaze, Bobby... Nien, das ist nicht richtig..." Kurt muttered to himself as he wandered down the corridor, pausing by the fire- filled hearth with a notebook in his hand presumably marking off Christmas gifts against his friends' names.  
  
"Are you alright Kurt?" Storm enquired as Kurt slammed the book shut again quickly in case she saw what he was looking at.  
  
"F...fine, danke." Kurt smiled nervously, moving the book to behind his back.  
  
"What have you got there?" Ororo asked slyly, trying to peek around her friend like a giddy school child. Storm adored Christmas.  
  
"Oh look!" Kurt tried to distract her, "Mistletoe." He looked as if he expected Storm to run a mile from being trapped under the offensive parasitic foliage with someone as hideous as him. Storm glanced upwards, smiling as she saw that Nightcrawler was right, turned back to her friend and kissed him delicately on the lips. In his shock Kurt dropped his notebook, Ororo beating him too it. But with a smile she handed his precious list back to him without so much as opening the first page.  
  
"You worry too much Kurt. I can wait until Christmas morning to find out what you've bought me... Just so long as its that perfume I asked for?" She laughed. Kurt looked suddenly very very flustered, and nothing Ororo could say as they walked out of camera shot could convince him that she was only joking.  
  
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Scott paused from whatever it was he was rushing to do right in the middle of the camera shot. Slyly as he heard voices coming he checked that the infamous mistletoe was still in place and that he was stood, however casually, underneath it. A scuffmark on the floor suddenly became very interesting, Cyclops obviously not wanting to seem too desperate. But the voices began to fade again, and Scott was left stood by himself like a leftover sprout. He hung around a few more moments; scowl increasingly deep set across his face, until he stormed off, shooting the mistletoe an evil look.  
  
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Logan marched into the mansion like a man on a mission, the essential kitchen supplies he'd been to collect straining his arms with their weight, shopping list still gripped between his teeth. Scott was just walking down the stairs and sped up to help Wolverine before the remaining parts of Christmas dinner spilled all over the floor.  
  
"Here. Let me take something." Cyclops offered as Logan gave up and dropped the shopping bags. Gambit too appeared straight from the kitchen with flour across his face and started routing through the many bags for something that was intent on hiding from him.  
  
"Um, guys?" Wolverine began, glancing upwards. Gambit and Scott weren't listening, Remy asking Cyclops if he could find the garlic and Scott replying that surely it could wait until they'd carried the bags to the kitchen? "Fellas, not here okay?"  
  
"What wrong Ami?" Gambit asked, following Logan's glance upwards. "Oh."  
  
There was a sudden flood of giggles as Gambit's fellow cooks emerged to see what was taking so long. Shadowcat and Storm at least were trying to keep their laughter under control, but Ilehana Xavier and Gambit's fellow ex- thief and best friend Blaze were doubled up with laughter. It was Blaze who summed it up best.  
  
"Where's a camera when you need one!"  
  
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The light had shifted to the gentle glow of late evening when the mansion's door opened and four of its inhabitants entered, three staggering slightly from the alcohol they had consumed whilst out at Diego's Bar. One of the slightly tipsy figures was clearly upset about something, even as the sober figure had a strut to her step as though highly pleased with herself.  
  
"You beat me?" Gambit was having great difficulty getting over this fact. "You never beat me before in your life Petite."  
  
"Not at cards anyway." Blaze replied with a sly smile. "But if you're going to be distracted by every pretty little blonde thing inside thirty miles, what can you expect Ami? No offence Ilehana."  
  
"None taken." Vixen was obviously greatly amused by the whole thing, as was Logan, chuckling away to himself as Gambit bit back at his friend.  
  
"Ain't nobody likes a proud winner Chere. Especially not when it's a fluke."  
  
"Ain't nobody likes a grumpy loser either, Rem." Blaze replied grinning as she mimicked his New Orleans inflection. "Which is a shame, considering where you're stood."  
  
"She's right." Ilehana agreed. "Sorry Gambit." And with that both young women walked off out of camera shot.  
  
"Don't hang about there too long Gumbo." Logan advised as he to left. "People'll think that you're desperate." In his slightly drunk state it took Remy more than a moment to realise what on earth they were all going on about.  
  
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Christmas morning arrived at last in a flurry of excitement as the children raced about the house, out-paced only by the grown-ups. Professor Charles Xavier came out of his office bright and early, festive tie depicting Santa and various reindeer, tinsel on his wheelchair. Not his idea of course, but one had to get in the mood.  
  
"Merry Christmas Dad." Ilehana was the first to appear, kissing Xavier on the cheek before disappearing.  
  
"Happy Christmas Professor." Blaze echoed her friend's words, and kissed Xavier on the top of his forehead. Quickly half the school's pupils, Storm, Jubilee and Shadowcat followed her, leaving Charles slightly bemused and lightly dusted with various shades of lipstick.  
  
"Merry Christmas Professor." Scott appeared just as Xavier realised what was hanging right above him. The Professor's blue-grey eyes met Scott's sunglasses-hidden ones with a twinkle.  
  
"Don't you even think about it Scott Summers."  
  
"Wouldn't dream of it." Scott replied with a smile, indicating with an open palm that Charles precede him down to breakfast.  
  
"Then Merry Christmas to you too Scott." Xavier replied, and then winced almost proudly as his foster son kissed his cheek. Laughing the two men left the camera shot.  
  
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Bobby appeared again on a much more wobbly chair than last time as from down the hall Christmas carols could be heard being sung. Kurt and Storm seemed to be between them carrying the melody as most of the other X-Men and pupils of the school wobbled out of tune like Blaze or forgot the words like Gambit. Iceman cursed as the chair threatened to send him flying across the hallway, untangling the camera from Jubilee's decorations. He hit the off button and the camera died sullenly.  
  
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Playback complete, Bobby glanced around the rec room at his friends hoping none of them would be too upset with his little project. Thankfully the Christmas spirit had well and truly sunk in, the X-Men chortling at each other's exploits and embarrassment quite merrily.  
  
"Wait a minute..." Logan cut in when Bobby moved to switch off the machine and take his camera away. Someone, probably Ilehana, had draped tinsel around the Wolverine's neck, whilst Gambit had had silly string squirted in his mop of hair by half the X-Men for asking way too many times if the food he'd slaved over was okay. Blaze leant on Remy's shoulder, for once even her stupendous appetite sated. Xavier sat with his daughter and Scott, revelling in the sense of family throughout the room. "I wanna see that bit in the middle of the night again."  
  
"Why?" Storm asked as Bobby nodded and began to flick backwards through the footage. "Its pitch black Logan, you can't see who it is."  
  
"What's the problem Stormy?" Wolverine asked with humour in his voice. "It you or something?"  
  
"Here it is." Bobby cut in before Storm could answer. Flicking play the image was blank darkness, but there were the unmistakable sounds of a couple kissing softly under the mistletoe. "Knew I should have fitted this thing with infrared night vision too. Still if you give me a minute, I'll run this downstairs and see if I can't clean it up a bit..."  
  
"No!" The cry came up from all around the room, as various X-Men glanced uncertain at each other, trying to detect this guilty couple from within the many cried protests. Havoc, Kitty, Jubilee, Storm, Kurt, Blaze, Gambit, Colossus...Bobby couldn't help but laugh as Kitty fought her blushes and turned to Jubilee.  
  
"Guess we're not all as unromantic as I thought we were... Happy Christmas everyone, and God Bless."  
  
**The End** 


End file.
